This article was on the cover of today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the greatest daily newspaper on this (or any other) planet:
By DEBORAH YAO
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
I've never met Deborah, but I've made a followed her fine work over the years. She specializes in media issues. You can read more of Ms Yao's fine work by going here. It's worth the time and effort. Deborah Yao and The Associated Press - the only way to start your morning.
The Federal Trade Commission will try to regulate blogging for the first time, requiring writers on the Web to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products.
I don't understand how people can live without the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I mean, can you really claim to have experienced a Dallas Cowboys game until you read Randy Galloway's analysis the next morning? Can you call yourself a "Fort Worther", and not read Bud Kennedy every day? The great Paul Harral has left the editorial page, but it still carries the lingering aroma of Paul's greatness. Sometimes when I finish reading my Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I spread it on the floor and roll around in it.
The FTC said Monday that its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final Web guidelines, which had been expected. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could bring fines of up to $11,000 per violation. Bloggers or advertisers could also face injunctions and be ordered to reimburse consumers for financial losses stemming from inappropriate product reviews.
The last time I went hunting in west Texas, I was walking through some brush and another hunter (a lawyer from Dallas) thought I was a deer. (BTW, have you bothered to look through the Dallas Morning News? What a substandard product!) Anyway, this guy shot at me with a 30-06, and the bullet entered my hunting vest at about 3,000 feet per second. I should've been dead.
What saved me? Tucked away inside my hunting vest was an old Fort Worth Star-Telegram ! The bullet went through the front pages, the comics, sports, life & arts, and finally stopped at a Molly Ivins column.
Did I take this as a sign? You betcha.
The commission stopped short of specifying how bloggers must disclose conflicts of interest. Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC’s advertising practices division, said the disclosure must be "clear and conspicuous," no matter what form it will take.
My Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I love it, love it, love it. You should too.
All the pics of the great Fort Worth Star-Telegram logo came from here. Go there. It will make you a better person.
3 comments:
I'll take your advice regarding Deborah Yao. My favorite Star-Telegram writer is Clark Kent.
I wanted to put something nasty about the bullet being scared of her picture, or that she confiscated it as part of a gun control measure she was flogging, but then I remembered that she was dead and thought better of my plans.
If American justice is now to provide justice, as activists, then the FTC should do this. If, on the other hand, the task of law and law enfocement is to prevent and punish injustice, then our freedoms will be intact. If the few elite rule the many, they will decide what is just. If individual freedom remains our tradition, then we do not need the FTC tom rule on anything on the net. See www.claysamerica.com
Post a Comment